Hazardous location housings (e.g., explosion-proof receptacle housings) and enclosure systems are used in many different industrial applications. Such hazardous location housing and enclosure systems may be used, for example, in military applications, onboard ships, assembly plants, power plants, oil refineries, petrochemical plants, and other harsh environments. At times, the equipment located inside such hazardous location housing and enclosure systems are used to control motors and other industrial equipment.
Traditional motor starters and related equipment fail to provide adequate torque control and result in excessive wear on the motor and associated equipment. Instead, variable frequency drives (VFDs) are often used in place of traditional motor starters. However, VFDs tend to generate heat and are subject to failure when exposed to excessively high temperatures caused by the heat loss. In addition, VFDs and other equipment inside such an enclosure can fail or operate at a reduced performance level at severely cold temperatures. A common practice to reduce heat-related and cold-related problems is to remove the VFD to a remote location so that an explosion-proof receptacle housing and enclosure system is not required, allowing proper cooling of the VFD during operation. However, installation costs may increase and operational problems may result from increased line losses from the added distance that signals between the VFD and the related equipment must travel.